The Game Plan

Well this is an odd addition to my list of horror and sci-fi films, isn't it?

The Game Plan is fantastic for modern-Disney, I must say. While it doesn't break away from the twenty-first century conventions for "humorous" situations, it does a darn good job at making you look past them. See, Disney really seems to have given up on writing good, new-ish stories; instead, they pump out sequels to movies that by all rights needed none or throw a new coat of paint over a classic film, meanwhile systematically ruining it with cheap slapstick jokes. If you couldn't tell, I'd normally rather watch eye surgery footage of the operation needed after watching new-Disney than the garbage they're selling to the masses.

I've deviated from the topic a bit, so now I'll return to what's important: The Game Plan. This movie is wonderful and charming. Not a new story, but a charming one which had my eyes a little watery in the last quarter of the film.

The standby plots for most kids' movies is a short list. You can have a family trip, a new pet, a long lost relative, or a school year, all of which will be filled with zany hijinks and one-liners so devoid of "dirty language," well, that they're unbelievable. Not only that, but the situations are so often entirely implausible, and the parents are either massive control-freaks or so goofy and incompetent it's a miracle they achieved adulthood and a massive salary. Whether this is some subtle prod at society or if it's merely some idealized vision of how life should be in their eyes...actually, what's most likely is some squeaky-clean way to make millions off of suggestible children and their never at home parents. Again I've gone off on a rant of why networks marketing to kids are my least liked.

This movie is about a star football player bachelor finds out via shock value that he has a daughter from a failed marriage when said little girl shows up at his pad. Of course, they cast Mr. Football with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, which I really found myself enjoying. I was never a "wrestling" fan, but some of those actors went on to do bigger things. Why, the list is...short. Dwayne, however, surprised me with this (along with a few of his other roles) and I'm now a big fan of his. His character is self-obsessed and cocky, inept at handling a seven or eight-year old daughter, though he finds in himself a side he never expected. From throwing aside his belief that he can only be a football player, abandoning his protective bubble of cool guy by playing along and encouraging his daughter's whims. It's a cute movie, and one that I would not feel bad purchasing in the very near future.

Summary: great movie, good cast, rarity among Disney's most recent additions to their library. Watch this if you're in a sentimental mood-- you won't regret it.